Shemot, the first Sedrah in the book of Exodus, describes vividly the start of persecution of the Jews. Our people have long been sufferers, have long endured persecution, and this is first example of this hatred. The cause of the hatred: Because "the children of Israel were fruitful,...and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them". Because of the very success of the Jewish people, they were punished. Because of the very thing which most of us strive - everyday success and comfort - they were forced into slavery. But the Jews struggled on resolutely, as it says (Exodus I,12): But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread around.

Why did the Israelites do this? Why not just give in to slavery and fall into a humbled existence? Because the Israelites were survivors, who believed that the knowledge that they already had, the traditions they had already maintained, were too precious to be eradicated or humbled. Remember, this is before the giving of the Torah, before the Pesach story (obviously), before the wandering in the desert.

However, what the children of Israel did have was, amongst other things, the Sabbath. How preciously they preserved it! They multiplied in order not just to keep the tradition of the Sabbath going, but to strengthen it, to make it more widely known.

This sedrah, although it contains the birth, education and raising of Moses, also contains something very profound - the spirit. The will to carry on traditions, the will to remember history, the will to live.